Is Your Business Protected? With the number of large local, national and international companies that experienced data breaches in 2014 —Staples, Sony, Target, P.F. Chang’s and The Home Depot – it’s becoming harder to think any given company or city is immune. In fact, as reported in a recent St. Louis Business Journal article, St. Louis […]

We want to help you manage your tax activities and simplify complex tax laws. We hope you’ll find that our 2015 Quick Tax Facts guide helps you do just that. This handy guide compiles frequently changing tax information applicable to most businesses and households. Complete the form below to request your complimentary copy. For more […]

The IRS has released the 2014 version of Form 8941, which can be used by eligible small employers to calculate the health care tax credit. Created as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this credit generally is available to employers that: Have fewer than 25 employees, Pay average annual wages of less than $50,000 […]

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) has been on the books for years. Yet some employers are about to feel the law’s impact for the first time. That’s because mental health and addiction services are one of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) 10 mandated essential health benefits (EHBs) that small group plans […]

ST. LOUIS (February 17, 2015) Todd Goldenhersh joins Brown Smith Wallace as a Manager in the Insurance Advisory Services practice. As Manager, Goldenhersh is responsible for performing audits of insurers writing fidelity, personal and commercial lines; medical and life insurance; and professional liability coverage. He will also serve the firm’s ever growing captive insurance clientele. […]

ST. LOUIS (February 17, 2015) Bill Gogel has been promoted to IT Audit Manager in the Advisory Services practice at Brown Smith Wallace. “Bill has earned a reputation for providing outstanding client service to some of our more complex clients and environments. It has been a real pleasure watching him grow into a strong mentor […]

ST. LOUIS (February 5, 2015) Anne Ritter has been promoted to Principal, Tax Services at Brown Smith Wallace. As a Principal, Ritter has overall responsibility for the tax planning and consulting services rendered to her individual and business clients. She will also continue to establish new client relationships. Ritter has more than 25 years of experience […]

Q: What is a Third Party Special Needs Trust? A: A Third Party Special Needs Trust is set up by someone, usually a parent or grandparent, other than the beneficiary. The goal of a Third Party Special Needs Trust is to make funds available for extra expenses of a person who is receiving government benefits for […]

Under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), private companies can now elect to amortize goodwill and certain intangible assets acquired in business combinations instead of testing them for impairment. They can also forgo the recognition of noncompete agreements and customer-related intangibles unless these agreements or intangibles can be sold or licensed independently. But the Financial […]

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) generally requires employee benefit plans with 100 or more participants to have their annual reports audited. Plan administrators have fiduciary responsibilities to hire independent qualified public accountants to perform quality audits. But recent studies by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) found an alarming number of […]